Little Progress

I’m getting there on the website rebuild, but it’s slow going! It’s quite fun, though. I’d forgotten how quickly time passes when editing websites – I barely noticed this afternoon.

We spoke to my solicitor this morning. The flat situation is worse than I’d realised, as it turns out the lease specifically states that I have to pay all of the maintenance fees, instead of 1/6th – I thought that was just a possible interpretation. The landlord’s solicitors are still refusing point blank to change it, too. There’s also the matter of upcoming asbestos searches on the building’s communal areas. My solicitor says that if damaged asbestos is found and the other 5 tenants leave or declare themselves bankrupt, the landlords could legally demand I pay for the repairs. As such, her professional opinion is that I should not go ahead in the current position, and the Halifax will not sign off on the mortgage without her approval1. We spoke to my estate agent later – he’s hoping to be able to convince the landlord’s solicitors to change their minds. On the bright side, anybody’s solicitor should pick up on this issue, so it’s unlikely the buyer seller2 will pull out. I hope.

not that I’m planning to, but even if I stated I’m happy to go ahead this would be irrelevant – my solicitor has to give her professional opinion to the Halifax regardless of what I’m willing to accept [↩]